1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tongue plate and a vehicle seatbelt apparatus provided with this tongue plate.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle seatbelt apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-76635 (JP 2007-76635 A) includes a tongue plate that is movably provided on webbing. This tongue plate includes a tongue plate core, and a grasping portion that covers a portion of this tongue plate core. A grip portion is formed on both side portions in a width direction of the grasping portion. Then webbing is withdrawn from a retractor by an occupant grasping the grasping portion and pulling the tongue plate.
However, with this vehicle seatbelt apparatus, both side portions in the width direction of the grasping portion are arranged parallel when viewed from a plate thickness direction of the tongue plate core, so the ease with which the grasping portion is grasped (i.e., the grasping ease of the grasping portion) differs depending on the size of the hand (from the palm to the fingertips) of the occupant. Also, winding force of the retractor acts on the grasping portion when the webbing is withdrawn from the retractor. The direction in which the winding force acts substantially matches the direction in which both side portions in the width direction of the grasping portion extend, so both side portions in the width direction of the grasping portion tend to slip out of the hand of the occupant. Therefore, there is room for improvement in terms of improving the grasping ease of the grasping portion.